Golden Hawk vs. Packard Hawk

[SN-60]

I recently re-read the 'Hot Rod Magazine' road test of the '57 Golden Hawk. The testers indicated that
the GH was quite the performance car. A year later, 'Hot Rod' road tested the '58 Packard Hawk, and
in that test they indicated the PH was ANYTHING BUT a performance vehicle! Both tested vehicles
were equipped with Flightomatic transmissions. Can't understand the 'about face' on two vehicles this
similar. Was the Packard Hawk really that much heavier than the Golden Hawk? Possibly the two
vehicles had different final drive ratios? Or by '58 were other makes of cars becoming that much
faster and more powerful, while Studebaker's horsepower (275) remained static?

[JoeHall]

Similarly, when the magazines reported on their tests of the 57GH they reported much more power and speed than the 56GH (simply untrue). It seems each year they'd trash talk the vehicle from the last year, in effort to make the newer one seem more desirable.

[JoeHall]

I recently re-read the 'Hot Rod Magazine' road test of the '57 Golden Hawk. The testers indicated that
the GH was quite the performance car. A year later, 'Hot Rod' road tested the '58 Packard Hawk, and
in that test they indicated the PH was ANYTHING BUT a performance vehicle! Both tested vehicles
were equipped with Flightomatic transmissions. Can't understand the 'about face' on two vehicles this
similar. Was the Packard Hawk really that much heavier than the Golden Hawk? Possibly the two
vehicles had different final drive ratios? Or by '58 were other makes of cars becoming that much
faster and more powerful, while Studebaker's horsepower (275) remained static?

Not sure what ax they were grinding with the 58PH.

[PackardV8]

Random thoughts from fifty years of reading magazine road tests:

1. Magazine road tests were invented by Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated in the late 1940s. His writing was very subjective and for most of the '50s and '60s, there were more subjective impressions than hard data.

2. In recent years, magazines have been using much more hard data, but on comparison tests, the subjective opinions of the writers are often decisive.

3. In the '57 GH test, HRM said it was a huge handling improvement over the '56 GH with the big, heavy Packard V8. The truth is the two cars weight about the same and have the same suspension.

4. For many years, car companies cheated. They furnished magazines with supertuned engines. Pontiac even went so far as to installed hopped-up 421" engines in the GTOs they gave to magazines. These ringers were more than a second quicker in the 1/4-mile than the stock 389" engines in production GTOs. So who knows if the '57 GH which HRM road-tested was stock or not.

5. Stude quality control did vary, especially on supercharged models. The boost pressure makes all the difference. Ted Harbit and other R2/R3 racers spend much time making sure they get maximum boost. Sandblasted pulleys, new belts, using a turnbuckle, new spark plugs, premium fuel; without any one of these, the supercharged engines run less well.

6. The '58 PH was built on the same assembly line using parts from the same bin, by the same employees who built the '57 and '58 GH. The three cars have exactly the same transmission, same engine and the same horsepower. Any differences are the result of manufacturing variances, wear or tuning.

jack vines

[RareBird]

Yea, What he said

Random thoughts from fifty years of reading magazine road tests:

1. Magazine road tests were invented by Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated in the late 1940s. His writing was very subjective and for most of the '50s and '60s, there were more subjective impressions than hard data.

2. In recent years, magazines have been using much more hard data, but on comparison tests, the subjective opinions of the writers are often decisive.

3. In the '57 GH test, HRM said it was a huge handling improvement over the '56 GH with the big, heavy Packard V8. The truth is the two cars weight about the same and have the same suspension.

4. For many years, car companies cheated. They furnished magazines with supertuned engines. Pontiac even went so far as to installed hopped-up 421" engines in the GTOs they gave to magazines. These ringers were more than a second quicker in the 1/4-mile than the stock 389" engines in production GTOs. So who knows if the '57 GH which HRM road-tested was stock or not.

5. Stude quality control did vary, especially on supercharged models. The boost pressure makes all the difference. Ted Harbit and other R2/R3 racers spend much time making sure they get maximum boost. Sandblasted pulleys, new belts, using a turnbuckle, new spark plugs, premium fuel; without any one of these, the supercharged engines run less well.

6. The '58 PH was built on the same assembly line using parts from the same bin, by the same employees who built the '57 and '58 GH. The three cars have exactly the same transmission, same engine and the same horsepower. Any differences are the result of manufacturing variances, wear or tuning.

jack vines

[SN-60]

All the above comments make good sense. Joe Hall mentions that 'Hot Rod' also did a fairly comprehensive article on the '56 Golden Hawk. And He's right, they raved about the '56 and found little or no fault with it......UNTIL 1957..
then all of a sudden they referred to the '56 as a "Sherman Tank" in comparison with the 'new' '57 Golden Hawk! Continuing that line of thought, one would think the '58 Packard Hawk would be the crowning achievement of the three
model years, but, unrealistically, the 'Hot Rod' road testers really turned on that car, criticizing it. Who knows? (They dug the leather interior though!)

[packardHawk58]

The Packardhawk would be slightly lighter (fibreglass nose and hood) fibreglass is a lot lighter than diecast grilles and steel hoods and the PH is by far better streamlined which the designers unintentionally did (no windtunnels in 1958) so in theory the car should be faster than a 57-58 GH not that I am biased!

[studegary]

3. In the '57 GH test, HRM said it was a huge handling improvement over the '56 GH with the big, heavy Packard V8. The truth is the two cars weight about the same and have the same suspension.


jack vines

I seem to remember changes from 1957 to 1958:
1) The change from two piece driveshafts with a center bearing to one piece driveshafts.
2) The rear leaf springs went from symmetrical (25/25) to asymmetrical.

[jbwhttail]

Anyone think that just maybe there was exchange of currency for a good review in each model year? Just a thought.......... Cheap advrtising.

[SN-60]

packardHawk58 makes a good point. The '58 Packard Hawk was one of the most streamlined cars built up to that point in time. If they built more of them, We probably would have seen them used at places like Bonneville
using the blown Stude engine, and larger Brand X engines in record attempts. Come to think of it, has anyone ever seen a Packard Hawk on the drag strip, or being used in top end record attempts of any sort? .... seems
like a 'natural' to Me.

[SN-60]

To: jbwhttail,-------- NO WAY! THAT NEVER HAPPENS!.....(does it?)